


The Star Crossed Killers

by lulubee1234



Category: Hunger Games (2012), Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-20
Updated: 2013-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-05 07:55:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1091465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lulubee1234/pseuds/lulubee1234
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Star-Crossed Killers<br/>A (major) Canon Divergence mixed with Natural Born Killers.<br/>Katniss and Peeta have survived the games, but they're angry. They want revenge. They're going to go after Snow and they're more then happy to take down anyone in their way. They all deserve to die, after all. </p><p>Prompts:<br/>Natural born killers, Katniss and Peeta have become media superstars.<br/>And<br/>Peeta Mellark finds his ex-girlfrind and fugitive from the law Katniss Everdeen hiding in the basement of his bakery. Can she convince him not to turn her over to the authorities? Set in District 12, Canon divergence.</p><p>Warning! Dark! Peeta and Dark! Katniss. Major Character Death.<br/>This is not a fluffy story. It is MA for Violence, strong suggestions, murder. (Just like the Hunger Games.) But with sex. And more guns. And rattlesnakes.<br/>I do not own the Hunger Games or Natural Born Killers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Star Crossed Killers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lbug84](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lbug84/gifts).



> Prompts:  
> Natural born killers, Katniss and Peeta have become media superstars.  
> And  
> Peeta Mellark finds his ex-girlfrind and fugitive from the law Katniss Everdeen hiding in the basement of his bakery. Can she convince him not to turn her over to the authorities? Set in District 12, Canon divergence.
> 
> I tried to give you everything you asked for (And Basement Smut!) Because, Lbug84, you deserve it, my friend. I hope you like it. Now you know why I wouldn’t let you beta my Holidayfic exchange. Love you! Merry Christmas.
> 
> Big thanks to Mockingjayflyingfree for beta-ing this for me!

Introducing the Star Crossed Killers- A Capital Diner 

I watch the record slide into its place and the needle come down slowly on top of it. The jukebox begins to play. I let my body move to the music. My hair is down in two tails and whipping in time to the bass. The outside wind blows against my body as three men walk into the diner. My maroon bra top leaves my torso bare, and my tight corduroys curve with me as I twist and turn. Peeta’s got on a lazy smile as he watches me from the counter. His eyes never leave me even as he brings up his coffee to take a drink.  
“Well hell.” One of the older men who just walked in says as he takes in my moving form. “Have at it, son.”  
The younger man begins to dance his way over to me. He doesn’t break eye contact. I know what he sees. I know what he wants.  
The other older man has sat down next to Peeta. “That’s a sweet piece of meat over there, isn’t it?” He says.  
Peeta chews the bite of food in his mouth. “Her name’s…” he swallows. “Katniss.”  
“Katniss, whatever.Shit, I don’t care. I call it Pussy.” Peeta’s fork hits his plate. Peeta flinches, once.Twice. If I were to guess, behind his sunset tinted sunglasses his irises would be black. But it’s just a guess.  
The record finishes with a scratch.  
“Don’t stop now, son. I think she’s sweet on you.” The idiot next to Peeta says to his son.  
I turn back to my dancing partner and look him over. He’s doing some vulgar thing with his beer between his legs. I put my hands on my hips and look him up and down.  
“Are you flirtin’ with me?” I coo. A new record’s put in and the song begins to play.  
“Bay-bee.” He says as he takes a swig of his beer.  
I smile. My beer hits him smack in the jaw and he doubles over. I follow it with a one two punch. His father watches me kick his son’s ass. He takes a swig of his own beer.  
“You want a piece of me darlin’?” He spits out as I punch him another couple times in the gut.  
“Let’s go, fucker. Let me see what you got.” I flap the middle three fingers on both hands. “Bring it on, cocksucker.”  
He goes for the punch. I duck. I follow with my own hook to the back and a knee to the groin. Then I shoot another kick to the groin, following it up with a kick to the head. He falls backwards into the half wall by the door. He flies over it. His father gets up.  
“Now see here now.” He starts. Peeta grabs him by the shoulder. He’s pointing at Peeta.  
Oh, that’s a mistake.  
“It’s not polite to point,” Peeta says.  
They both look down at the man’s foot and he’s got a slice of blood across his boot. Peeta cut off his finger with a knife. The man screams. Peeta follows it with a few quick slashes until the man goes silent.  
The waitress’s eyes go wide. Peeta collects his knife and takes off his jean jacket revealing his gun harness. It’s loaded.  
The chef, a big fat bitch, comes out of the kitchen waving a butcher knife at him. Peeta’s got his gun out so fast that it seems like the bullet is moving in slow motion. I can see it clearly just before it smacks into her head. Blood sprays on the wall behind her. 

The stupid idiot who wanted to try something with me hasn’t given up yet. I yell and give him another good kick. He falls into the booth. When he stands up again I grab his arm and fling him against the wall.  
“How you feelin’ now flirty boy? Huh? How you feelin’ now?” I say to him from the ground. I jump off the table and land on his back. I let my boots dig into his back as I use him as my very own trampoline.  
The third dude who came in with them heads for the door. Peeta sees him and throws his knife. The man makes a run for it, but he’s too slow. Peeta’s knife throwing skills are damn fine. Have been ever since we continued training after the Games.  
I lean down and snap the flirt’s neck with my hands. “That’ll teach you to stay down.” I shout at him.  
Peeta is over by the register now. He collects the cash from each slot before he turns to me.  
“Honey, come on, baby, it’s time to go.” I walk over to him slowly. I get hot as I take him in. His white pants and white shirt are in perfect contrast to his black belt and midnight gun holsters. The blood that’s splattered across his chest is the perfect accent to finish off his look. I smile big. He smiles back. He holds out his arms and I jump into them. Something catches the corner of my eye.  
“No! There is no escaping here!”  
Peeta pulls out his gun and points it at the stupid waitress who attempts to make a break for it out the front door. Now there are just two of them left. The waitress and some other big bastard in the back. They both have their hands up like that’s going to change something.  
“Eeeny, meeny, miney, mo, catch a redneck by his toe.” My finger moves between the two witnesses. “If he hollers, let him go.” My finger stops on the waitress. “My mother told me to pick the very best one.” Peeta’s gun starts to move between the two as the waitress starts heading towards the kitchen.  
“No!” She screams.  
“And you are it!” My finger again lands on the waitress. Peeta’s finger hits the trigger and the waitress falls to the floor. He brings the gun’s mouth to his and he blows across the top. The guns smoke dissipates into the quiet restaurant. I creep over to the last witness. Shifting on my feet from side to side. My hands are out mimicking a big scary monster. The witness’s arms are still raised.  
“When people come here and they ask you who done this, you tell them, it was Peeta and Katniss Mellark. You got it?”  
He nods.  
“Say it!”  
“Peeta.. and Katniss… Mellark... Did this.”  
I smile. “That’s right.” I saunter over to Peeta. “Peeta and Katniss Mellark.”  
I jump back into his arms. “I love you, Peeta.”  
“I love you, Katniss.” He spins me around in circles. I laugh. We start to dance. The last witness fades from my mind. I can hear the music playing. It’s soft, it’s romantic, as he twirls me around. There’s no one else in this world like Peeta. While we dance it could be just the two of us. I can almost hear the fireworks shooting off in celebration for us.  
Yes. Definitely fireworks. 

=================================================================  
Prologue: Six Months After the Games and One year earlier 

His heavy tread descends the basement steps. His mother is yelling at him from upstairs. The sound is followed by a smack that I can only imagine is her hitting Peeta again. I ball my hand into a fist. Soon, I think. Soon I can take care of that bitch the way she’s had coming to her. He’s still rubbing his cheek by the time he reaches the bottom. He moves to the pile of flour they store down here when he stops. Good. He sees me.  
“Katniss, what… What are you doing down here?”  
I put my finger to my lips and stay silent. He nods his head slowly when he hears the sound of police sirens. When they pass, I speak.  
“I’m sorry it took me so long to come back.”  
“I didn’t know you were coming - I never dared to hope-”  
I can see in his eyes the second he regrets being so sincere with me. A wave of sadness washes through me. I put that look on his face. I broke his heart and didn’t tell him the whole story. But I made a mistake and I’m going to fix it.  
“What’s going on?” He asks.  
“I did it, Peeta. I finally did it.” My smile says it all and he smiles, too. “I’m free and so is Prim.”  
His face is blank at first. Then his mouth opens slightly. He looks up towards the kitchen, finally back towards me.  
“You mean?”  
“He’ll never lay his filthy hands on me again, and my mother will never be too dazed to just watch.” Old Cray had it coming to him ever since he married my excuse of a mother, and decided that he could mess with me. A girl can only be taken against her will so many times before she snaps.  
“But, Katniss, he was the head peacekeeper.”  
“Are you going to say anything?”  
“I… I don’t know, Kat. We’re victors, we can’t just leave. They’ll find you eventually. They’ll find you and-“  
I grab his hair and pull our lips together, effectively stopping the beginnings of what I know would be a nervous rant. I know the minute he lets his body take over. He pulls me in closer and bunches the corners of my shirt in his hands. He moves between my legs where I sit on one of the stacks of flour. I return his kisses, hungry for the taste of him. The taste I craved every day that we’d been separated. He lets out a guttural moan before he pulls away.  
“What does this mean?” He asks. He’s trying to guard himself, but his fingers continue to caress my cheek, and I know he’s still not immune to me. He never has been and he never will be.  
“It can mean anything you want it to mean.”  
Peeta grabs my face in his hands and brings it up to meet his lips again. The kiss is heated as our tongues battle for dominance. When he pulls away I whisper against his lips.  
“Run away with me.”  
“Katniss...”  
“Do you still love me?”  
He looks away. We both know the answer, but I understand why he has a hard time saying it now. I won’t do that to him again.  
“You know I do.”  
I move my lips over his again and capture his lips with mine. “Then we need to get going.”  
“How do I know you won’t just leave me again? Six damn months it’s been, Katniss. Why shouldn’t I just turn you in and try to move on?”  
“I wouldn’t do that. I mean it this time.”  
“I guess I need to just be...reminded.” I swallow. I see his eyes darkening and I know this look. This is the Peeta I love, the strong Peeta who was unleashed in the arena. “Maybe I need to remind you,” I say.  
My hands drag along his torso and down the front of his pants. I love the feel of his body. My fingers drag along the defined muscles of his torso. I only saw them once in the arena, but I crave to see them again.  
“What about Gale?”  
“Snow got him a nice big TV show up in the capital. He’s gone, Peeta. I chose you, and he chose his career. I don’t think either of us regrets our decision. I know I don’t.”  
Peeta’s lips lock with mine and I dig my fingers into the top of his pants. We’re pressed up against each other. I can feel the evidence of that effect I have on him against my inner thigh. I reach my hand down and cup him over his jeans. He lets out a hiss between his teeth. I rub my hand harder against it. His hands grip my ass and squeeze tight. His mouth is on my neck. His heavy panting hits my cool skin. It’s making me hot, too, but in a much different kind of way. This isn’t enough. I want to feel him. My fingers unbutton the fastener on his jeans and I slide down the zipper. I pull his hot flesh from its confining fabric and grip it gently in my hand. I pump up and down his shaft a few times, reveling in the pleasure I’m giving him.  
“I want to be inside you,” He moans.  
“Yes.”  
Before I see it coming, Peeta lifts me and turns me around so I’m bending over the stack of flour. He pulls down my loose pants, quickly taking my underwear with them. My hands grip the edge of the flour sack as I feel his rough hands caress my ass. I turn my head to see him looking at my body with reverence. He plays absently with his thick cock as he stares. The site of Peeta standing over me while I wait under his control brings a new flood of moisture between my legs. He spreads my thighs and enters me in one hard drive. I cry out at the pleasure/pain of being stuffed so quickly by him. His body leans against me so that his chest is pressed against my back.  
“You’re mine,” he all but growls in my ear. My walls pulse around him at his words. “You. Will. Never. Leave. Me. Again.” Each word is punctuated by a harsh thrust.  
“Never.”  
I breathe out on another powerful thrust. He moves up, gripping my hips tight in his hands as he powers into me. His pace is relentless. Each thrust is meant to remind me who I belong to.  
I won’t forget.  
His pace turns brutal as I feel his length throb inside of me. It sets me off and I bite down on my hand to muffle my cries as my walls vibrate around him. With a final thrust I feel him spill into me, his hands still holding me in a vice grip. I can only hope they will leave bruises.  
“That was-“ He starts.  
“I know,” I finish.  
“When do we leave?” 

\-----------------------

It’s a little chilly tonight. We’ve been on the run all day after sticking it to Peeta’s mother. I let Peeta do the honors this time. He was efficient, but it left plenty of time to watch the shock drain out of her face. Her little boy wasn’t so weak now, was he? We make sure to take the extra cash out of the register and behind the mattress where we knew the old bag stuffed her savings. His useless father had already killed himself when Peeta was ten, so he was at least out of the picture. 

He was a lot more serene about killing her than I would have been. He went for the throat, I wouldn’t have been as kind. I would have gone for the gut and let her bleed all over her pristine kitchen floors. I have been planning this ever since I came home from the games. I knew something was wrong when Prim didn’t come to greet me at the train station. I remember looking over at Gale, my gaze was questioning. 

She had killed herself.  
My Prim.  
The one I had sacrificed everything for.  
She had taken my sacrifice and pushed it in the dirt.  
I can’t blame her though.  
I had volunteered just as much to save her life as it was to get away from Cray. I made my mother promise she wouldn’t let Cray near Prim. I didn’t think he would try anything while I was gone. After all, she was only twelve. But he did try something and sweet Prim couldn’t take the shame and the nightmares. She hung herself, in her bedroom. She had written out the words ‘I love you Katniss, I’m sorry.’ on the wall. In an attempt to save her from death, I left her alone with a monster. 

At first the shock had taken control. Peeta hadn’t known about Cray’s visits. He didn’t know what happened to Prim. He didn’t come to check on me because he thought I didn’t want him. It took me close to six months and another dozen or so visits from Cray to snap me out of my depression. I was not to blame for her death. It was Him and my useless mother. They killed her. I remember the morning perfectly. 

“It’s about time you got your ass out of that bed, you stupid bitch.” Cray sits at the dining table drinking his coffee while he reads the newspaper. I ignore him and open up the entry closet in my house, my victor’s house, which I won because I am strong. I take out my father’s bow and arrows. I string up an arrow and take aim.  
“What do you think you’re doing, you stupid bitch?”  
I let it fly.  
“I’m killing you, you fucker.”  
He stares at me.  
The arrow is lodged in his forehead.  
He didn’t have time to scream.  
His head falls back.  
I laugh.  
Hard.  
I go to the kitchen and grab the gas line from behind the stove.  
I cut the pipe.  
I breathe in the smell of the gasoline before opening the top drawer where I know we keep the matches.  
I pull out three.  
I light the tips.  
Somehow Cray’s jacket is the first thing to catch fire.  
I love watching him burn.  
I walk out of the house and close the door. 

From the entrance of Victor’s village I start to smile. The flame has hit the gas. The girl on fire’s house is now a ball of fire. My useless mother probably won’t even realize she’s burning to death. I breathe in the clean air even as I see the black smoke rise higher in the sky. I haven’t felt this good since before the games. 

I still smile at the memory. The bridge we‘ve decided to camp next to for the night feels miles away from the nightmares we’ve let behind. We’ve come to a decision, Peeta and I. We’re going after Snow. Snow and all of the other worthless people who have sat back for years and enjoyed the misery of the Hunger Games. We will take down everyone and anyone in our path.

We have a plan. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Part One: One Year Later

 

I’m lying against Peeta, his arm holding me close to his side. His other hand plays with the loose locks of my dark hair.  
“You love me. Real or not real?” He says.  
I lean back and look into his eyes. My smile puts him at ease.  
“Real.”  
“Kat..”  
“Yes?”  
“Will you marry me?”  
"But where are we gonna get married?”  
“Right here, Kat. This is our Justice Building.”  
I nod. Before the Games I had been afraid of this.Marriage, children. Now I just don’t give a damn. Peeta is my past, present, and future. Nothing will change that. I don’t know what the future will bring, but I know that I won’t give up the opportunity to be his. 

We briefly consider a toasting,but discard it. Toastings are for the poor, the weak. For the people who sent their children to be slaughtered to entertain everyone else. 

For people who watched their kids get beaten and raped, while they walked around too miserable with themselves to do anything about it. 

We come up with our own way. A way that has already bonded us. We choose to join in blood, not bread. 

We cut open the center of our palms as our blood mixes together. Peeta intertwines his fingers with mine. 

“I do. 'Til you and I die, and die, and die again. 'Til death do us part.” I say.

“Baby... by the power invested in me, as God of my world... I pronounce us husband and wife.” 

The blood pours over our hands. We are a mix of light and dark and red. It’s beautiful. He brings his hand up to my face for a passionate kiss. Our tongues tangle, and I know I have never been happier.

We are a tangle of limbs as Peeta undresses me in the back of the bright red convertible. It’s our wedding night. He draws down my shirt and traces every groove and freckle with his tongue. He continues this until I’m panting beneath him. I’m on the verge of lunacy from the sweet torture of his teasing tongue. I grab the back of his shirt and throw it up and over his head. My fingers caress his smooth skin. My mouth follows behind them. I lift my eyes and see him looking down at me. The emotions I can read in his eyes are so intense it pushes the air from my lungs.  
His hand comes down to squeeze my breast. His fingers send chills down my torso as they dance along my body and move lightly over my clit.  
“How does that feel, love?”  
“Amazing.”  
He begins to pump his finger in and out of me.  
“And this?”  
“Mmmm...”  
He replaces his fingers with his cock. It drives into me with purpose. He keeps up a powerful rhythm as his eyes remain locked on mine. His fingers dance on my clit. The sensations mount together until I’m close to bursting.  
“Open your eyes,” he says. “I want you to look at me when I come inside of you.”  
His words somehow make me even wetter.  
“I’m so close, Peeta.”  
“Tell me you’re mine. Scream my name as you come for me.”  
His words are my undoing. I feel my body begin to break. It starts off where we are joined and spreads through every limb and every cell until I am panting. I have tears in my eyes from the intensity and beauty of our coupling. 

Peeta’s shout has me opening my eyes again. I watch him from below as he falls apart. His hands are gripping my hips tightly as he releases himself deep inside of me. I feel him throbbing inside of me and I rejoice in the sensation.  
He stays inside of me and brings his hand up to caress my face.  
“I love you more then my own life, Katniss Mellark.”  
“And I love you, Peeta, You’re my one true love.” 

======================  
Shit.  
We’re out of gas.  
We’re out of gas in the middle of the fucking desert. 

We abandon the car and start moving. I couldn’t tell you that I’ve spent much time in District Ten. It’s probably because there is next to nothing in Ten but cattle. And cattle need a lot of space. So they have a lot of land where there is just nobody. Not a soul. We’ve been walking for hours, and it’s hot. I double over and let my hands rest on my knees. I’m getting fucking dehydrated. Peeta vomits. Great. Definitely dehydrated.  
“Right now I'd go down on a Peacekeeper for a gallon of gas,” Peeta says.  
I smirk. I know what he means. We have come too damn far to lose this battle to dehydration. I need to keep moving. I can’t. I’m so damn hot. So thirsty.  
No. We are on a mission. Snow will not win.  
That means we have to keep moving. 

We come across a snake. Its tail makes a rhythmic sound almost like a baby rattle. I go a little closer to it to see what it does. It lashes out and bites me. Peeta takes a step toward me and it bites him as well. 

The wound stings worse than just the broken skin. Poison, I think. I feel it seeping into my blood and making me weaker. We keep moving. 

Rotting animals struck down by the heat swim in my vision. A vulture caws as it circles our heads, waiting for us to fall to our deaths. I can hear the snake’s rattle even though we have left the snake far behind. Death hovers behind us waiting for one of us to drop, but we won’t. We know what suffering is like, and this is not a game. Not like last time. I drop to my knees.  
“Don’t give up, Kat.”  
“Peeta, I can’t.”  
“Get mad, Kat. Get Angry!” He tells me.  
Snow’s smile flashes through my head. He’s offering me a rose. There is blood on his lips. I get mad. I get to my feet.  
“That’s my girl.” I almost cry when we come up on a tiny little farm. There are a few dozen sheep hanging out on a small patch of grass. A lone tree stands in the yard, providing a little shade. I lean my arm against the tree and rest my head on it. I watch as Peeta keeps moving towards the wooden shack that looks to be the house.  
“Hello?” He knocks on the door. “Hello?”  
He opens the door wider. A tanned man comes into view. He’s sitting in a single chair. The TV is on in front of him. He stares at Peeta. He begins to say something in a language I can’t understand. This takes me aback. I was under the impression there was only one language spoken in Panem.  
“Uh, aloha? Chief? Yeah, uh... rattlesnake took a chunk outta us a few miles back... Me and my wife are pretty sick - could be dyin,' you never can tell about these things, so... How's about you ungluin' your fat ass from that boob tube and gettin' us some snakebite juice. Pronto.”

They bring us into their home. They give us an antidote for snake venom. I guess snake bites are something common here. We share their meal and sit in a circle on the floor of their home. Peeta and I remain quiet. We’re both thankful for their generosity, but we haven’t ruled out the possibilities of them having a hidden agenda or that they’re going to call for the peacekeepers. They could probably get into a lot of trouble if people found out we were here. 

The chief as we’ve taken to calling him, begins to speak in Navajo. Apparently Navajo is a language that precedes even the good times before the dark times. Before Panem was Panem, before America was America, men who spoke the language this man speaks to us now walked the land. His son is here and he translates for us.

My wide eyes follow the chief to the corner where there is a live rattlesnake. I hadn’t noticed it earlier. My nostrils flare.  
Devil creature.  
My fingers spread wide. They itch to grab the knife in the back of my pants. If he comes near Peeta with it, the man will be dead so fast he won’t even have time to blink. The chief picks up the rattlesnake and pets it. Plays with it. He goes and sits in his seat again.

“Once upon a time, a woman was picking up firewood. She came upon a poisonous snake frozen in the snow. She took the snake home and nursed it back to health. One day the snake bit her on the cheek. As she lay dying, she asked the snake, "Why have you done this to me?" And the snake answered, "Look, bitch, you knew I was a snake."

Sleep finds us easily that night. Our bodies are so drained from lack of water and left over poison that we all but collapse.  
There is chanting.  
Someone is calling the demons away from our minds.  
I shake.  
Chanting.  
Screaming.  
Shrill screeches of pain.  
Screaming.  
I wake. Peeta is crying. I look over and see that the Indian man who helped us is dead. His throat has been slit. Peeta holds the bloody knife in his hand.  
“I was having a nightmare,” he says. “I didn’t know it was him, I thought… I thought it was my mother. Shit.”  
“It’s okay,” I say.  
“Katniss, it’s not. He, he didn’t need to die. Not like the other ones. He was trying to help me. Us.”  
I know what he means. Everyone we have killed until this point has deserved to die. All fifty of them. Fifty one, now. I correct myself. This Indian, as he called himself, he didn’t need to die.  
I pull Peeta to his feet and we take off in the night. We steal the Indian’s car and drive off into the distance. He won’t be needing it now. 

I comfort Peeta as we drive. He is still upset, and I try to calm him. I tell him that the Indian probably did deserve to die, even if we hadn’t known the reason. He nods his head, though I can see he doesn’t feel better.  
Beautiful Peeta.  
Before the Games, he never would have killed anyone. Even in the Games, he managed to scrape by without killing anyone on purpose. But the Capitol changes everyone. Even beautiful Peeta.

He is violent with blood thirst now, like me. I love him more for it. He is even more beautiful now thean he was before. Now he is strong.He has purpose. And we are united. 

We are getting closer. I feel it.  
=================================================

 

The desert wind is picking up outside. I watch the beginning of Capital Maniacs in the convenience store as Peeta pumps our car with gas. We’re somewhere outside of Three, or maybe Two. I never know anymore.  
“The star crossed killers have done it again. It’s been confirmed that Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen murdered the entirety of the breakfast crowd at Flavius’s Diner, leaving Flavius himself as their only witness. We go to Gale who’s on the scene with Flavius now.”  
The screen flashes to Gale. I smile. He has an unhealthy obsession with us. He’s turned our spree into a fascination for the entire population. He makes out like he’s disgusted, but I know he secretly wishes he could join us. We’re big celebrities, apparently. Everyone wanting to catch a glimpse of the Star Crossed Killers, as Peeta so lovingly dubbed us. I get a kind of rush knowing that the rest of the country is as sick and twisted as we are. Well, I already knew they were sick and twisted, that’s why they sent me into the Games in the first place, for the sake of entertainment. I never expected for them to be just as entertained as we killed their own.  
“And then they started. Eeny, Meeny, Miney, mo. I was the only one left standing at the end.” Flavius was in tears. Again I smiled.  
“Ready to go, baby?” Peeta says, walking into the shop. The attendant’s practically deaf. He hasn’t even woken up yet despite the constant jingling of the front door.  
“Anywhere with you,” I say. He walks up to me and takes my chin in his hand as he positions me for a long, drawn out kiss that keeps my limbs heavy and my toes curling in my shoes. He pulls away, and I can see the smile that’s on my lips reflected in his.  
“I’m going to grab a drink and clean out the register.”  
“Okay. I’ll be waiting for you at the car.”  
He gives me another kiss.  
I walk outside. I’m half singing half humming some mangled tune when I see him. Seneca Crane. The bastard has been obsessed with us ever since he chocked and let us both out of the arena. Old Snow almost chopped his head off right there. He promised to make us pay.  
He spots me. I freeze. I turn to run back towards the mini mart Peeta’s in. His arms go around me.  
“Well, well, well if it isn’t the mockingjay herself. Tell me, Miss Everdeen, did you miss seeing my face?”  
“It’s Mrs. Mellark, you stupid asshole.”  
“Point is you’re my meal ticket, baby. Once I hand you and Mellark, over I am back on top and back in the spotlight.” He bends down and speaks into his radio. His arms are still holding me a little too tight and a little too close. “I need back up. I’ve got the star crossed killers.” Peacekeepers. No. Peeta.  
“Peeta! Run!” I shout.  
Shots sound. “Drop the girl or you’ll get more then a few in your head, you cocksucker.” Peeta’s voice is calm and full of menace. I can see the gun pointed over the register.  
“You’re not going to shoot me while I’m holding your girl, Mellark, please! You were a pussy then, and you’re a pussy now.”  
“Don’t listen to him, Peeta! Shoot him! Shoot him and run! I’ll follow! Just do it!”  
“Drop the gun, Mellark!” I feel something cold and sharp against my rib cage. Fuck. He has a knife. “Drop the gun or I’ll cut her tits off!”  
“Shoot him, Peeta!”  
“I’ll buy her new tits! You’re not scaring me!” Peeta shouts at Seneca. I feel my skin splitting. This bastard is doing it. He really is cutting me. I scream.  
“Stop it! Leave her alone! Stop it!” Peeta drops the gun.  
“No, Peeta don’t! Pick it up, Peeta! Don’t!”  
Peacekeepers flood the area. I watch helplessly as they knock Peeta to the ground. They beat the shit out of him.  
I’m screaming.  
“Enjoying the show, beautiful?” Seneca breathes in my ear.  
I fight him, but it’s no use. He’s got a tight hold on me, so tight in fact that I can feel his hard on against my ass. Disgusting pig. He’s wanted to fuck me ever since I went into the Games.  
The cold metal latches around my wrists.  
I’m livid.  
I’m a wild animal.  
I thrash.  
I growl.  
I scream for Peeta.  
He’s all but passed out, and they’re shoving his head into the back of a patrol car. Seneca’s chest presses against my back as he laughs at my pain.  
Keep laughing, asshole.  
I will make him pay for this. I will make him pay for this so good. I won’t stop until his life drips out over my fingers. 

===========================================================

The smell of the Capitol is thick in my lungs. That wafting rose smell permeates even the dumpsters in this place. I hate it, but I also revel in it. It means I’m close. It means justice is around the corner. I’m coming for Snow. I wonder if he even realizes it. I wonder if he just thinks I’ve snapped and that I’ve dragged Peeta along with me.  
Our trial is entertainment.  
Pure entertainment. 

We listen to the psychologists give their reports on our mental health. One psychologist gets up and says,  
“Peeta and Katniss know the difference between right and wrong; they just don't give a damn.”  
This makes me smile. He’s right.  
While others, like Dr. Aurelius, are convinced that this is just a symptom of a severe psychological disorder developed due to the violence of the games.  
Gee, I wonder what gave him that idea. 

We are pushed around as we exit the court room. There are cameras on all sides. The media swarms us from every direction as we’re escorted back to Snow’s dungeons. Apparently they are the highest security prison they have in the Capitol. I don’t know why I should find that surprising. 

Snow is definitely loving this. The star crossed killers are in his possession, and he’s making a fortune off them. A reporter shoves a microphone into Peeta’s and my faces.  
“Do you have anything to say to your fans?” He asked.  
Peeta smirks and catches my eye.  
“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” He says. He clutches my hand and I give it a squeeze back. 

We can hear reporters behind us as they give their newscasts. 

“Their subsequent trial turned into a sick, pathetic circus. The trial of Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen was SUCH an event, that it made the crime spree that preceded it pale by comparison. Even the Hunger Games, a mandatory viewing, had fewer hits during some of the weaker moments in the games. The nation caught fire! And Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark are to blame!” 

\-----------------------  
Peeta’s pov

The sons of bitches have separated me from Katniss. I’ll bide my time with the fucking interview. I’ll get her back. We’re meant to be. It’s our Fate. 

I can hear the TV in the other room. I can just imagine the two hundred or so other inmates sitting there watching the old junky TV. Snow’s made a lot of enemies over time, that’s for sure. The Rec room is getting crowded. 

“Stay tuned for a special interview after the games! Peeta Mellark is one of the most dangerous killers out there. But Caesar’s got the full scoop in the studio. Watch as we send in on site reporter Gale Hawthorne to interview the man who has killed over 48 people. Is this man insane, or does he belong where he put so many other people? In the grave?” 

Gale walks into the interrogation room. He’s got his camera crew with him, and a big smile on his face. Caesar is back and comfortable in the studio, entertaining his audience. They send Gale to do all the interviews with me. He’s not Capitol enough to report directly to the Capitol, he has to be the one to consort with the criminals and reprobates like myself. He’s always hated me. Probably because Katniss is finally mine. The motherfucker lives for this shit. I hate him just as much as I pity him. He sobers his face as he sits down. This is his big break. This is what will make him famous. Land him his own show. The final interview with one half of the star crossed killers, Peeta Mellark. The lunatic victor. The camera starts to roll. 

“Peeta Mellark, thank you for your time. I appreciate that you are willing to speak to me today.” He addresses me like he doesn’t know who the fuck I am. Like he hasn’t thought about fucking my wife. Like he didn’t see me as the competition up until a couple of years ago. “I’ve got a few questions to ask you if you don’t mind.”  
“Go right ahead.”  
The room is filled with guards. They’ve unlocked me from my cuffs to allow me to speak like a normal person. Use my hands or what have you.  
“When did you first start thinking about killing?”  
“Birth. I was thrown into a flaming pit of scum. Forgotten by God.” I laugh a little.  
“What do you mean by that?” He asks.  
“It means I came from violence. It was in my blood. My mother had it. Hell, her father had it. It’s my fate.  
“No one is born evil, Peeta. It’s learned.”  
I stay silent.  
“So tell me, Peeta… Any regrets? I mean, three weeks, fifty people killed... not too cool, Peeta.”  
“Fifty-two, actually.But I don't spend a lot of time with regret. That's a wasted emotion.”  
“Seriously, you must have some regret. Rack your brain.”  
“Well, I wish that Indian hadn't got killed.”  
“One of your last victims,” Gale says as he flips through his files.  
“Man had a rattlesnake in the corner... He would pick it up and pet it. He saw it.”  
“Saw what?”  
“The demon inside. And you know the only things that kills a demon, right?”  
“What?”  
“Love. Katniss has taught me how to love.She was curing me of the demons.”  
“But all of the killings have separated you from your true love.” He’s a good actor, but I can tell the words bother him. “And that’s not your biggest regret? Still an old Indian who had already lived his life? Tell me. How can you look at an ordinary person, an innocent guy with kids, and then shoot him to death? I mean, how can you bring yourself to do that?  
“Innocent? Who's innocent, Gale? Are you innocent?” I ask.  
“If I'm innocent? Yes, I am. Of murder? Definitely.”  
“It's just murder. All God's creatures do it. You look in the forests and you see species killing other species, our species killing all species including the forests.We just call it industry, not murder. But I know a lot of people who deserve to die.”  
“Why do they deserve to die?” Gale asks.  
“I believe they got something in their past.Some sin, some awful secret thing. A lot of people are walking around out there already dead. They just need to be put out of their misery. The one’s who don’t, live off of watching innocent kids slaughter other innocent kids. It’s not entertainment, it’s life. It’s the real world. That's where I come in. Fate's messenger.”  
“And what made you so lucky? To be fate’s messenger?”  
“I had my name drawn from a bowl by Effie Trinket, and I was stuck in an arena with twenty three other people chosen for death. But I found the love of my life. In the end, we emerged victorious. We came out, our souls purified.”  
“I don't understand. What's so pure about twenty-two dead bodies?  
“You'll never understand. Me and you, Gale, we're not even the same species. I used to be you … But then I evolved. From where you're standing, you're a man. From where I'm standing, you're an ape. I'm here … I'm right here … and you … you're somewhere else, man. You say, why? I say, why bother?”  
I give him a sickly smile that I know just drives him nuts.  
“Shit man, I’m just a natural born killer.”  
Gale laughs out loud. I can hear clapping in the other room. The inmates, probably.  
“Did you get that?” Gale turns around and asks his cameraman. He nods.  
The siren in the prison goes off.  
That can only mean one thing.  
Riots.

 

===============================

There are riots in the prison under Snow’s mansion. Full blown riots. I smile as I watch the prisoners beating the shit out of the guards. Stabbing them in the back. Bashing their heads into the walls. Tons of prisoners. Snow must have made several thousand enemies by the number of people rioting in the halls. They’re climbing up higher and higher into Snow’s mansion. And it’s all on live television. 

I round the corner and see the cell to Katniss’s door open. Seneca Crane is in there. He’s got Katniss’s face pressed in his hand. He whispers the words close to her mouth. 

“Remember the last time you got fucked? What I want you to do is close your eyes, and remember the last time Peeta gave you the high hard one. You thinking about it? Good. Well you can forget it, 'cause it's never gonna happen again. Because when they get through with all the electroshock shit they got lined up for that cocksucker, ol' Peeta ain't gonna be worth a damn.” 

She spits in his face. He slaps her hard across the mouth. He follows it up with three rapid punches to her face and gut. I run in and throw him off of her. He pulls his gun out and I hold mine at him. I know it’s empty, but he doesn’t. Out of the corner of my eye I see Gale watching us closely. The camera men are behind him and they continue to roll.  
“Looks like we got us a Mexican Standoff,” I say.  
Seneca smirks. “We've had this day from the beginning, huh? I just never thought it’d be with you, Mellark. Now slide that shotgun over here. Put your hands on your head and your head against the floor!”  
“Or what - you'll wound me? I could blow you in half, and you know it.”  
“I never wounded anything in my life. I got you locked right between the eyes, Peeta. I've had you locked from the jump, you phony!”  
Seneca is so busy focusing on me he doesn’t see Katniss getting to her feet behind him. She picks up the knife Seneca had dropped earlier and walks on her hunters tread soundlessly towards us. Seneca cocks his weapon just as Katniss stabs him in the throat. He’s so taken aback that he screams and loses control of his gun. Katniss pulls it right out of his hands and aims it at his head.  
“You still like me now, Seneca?”  
As he lies dying at our feet I, stand over him and open my gun.  
“Oh, and it was empty, you dumb ass.”  
Then she shoots him.

We move through the halls. As we round towards the main corridor, something stops us from moving. Three inmates hold down a thrashing Snow. He’s screaming. 

“I am the President of Panem. I own you! I-“ Johanna Mason silences him with her ax. His blood pours from his head, his mouth, his chest. She laughs. We stand frozen. Our target falls. It was a perfect bulls eye, and someone else finished the job for us. That’s probably why we don’t see the peacekeepers before it’s to late. 

“Down on the ground!” They shout as they push us down and smack our heads into the concrete pavement. 

“We’re locking you two up for good this time,” the one holding my head says. Katniss turns her head to look at me. 

“You know what I say? I say... to hell with going back to our cells. Let's go out there, and run down the stairs, and go out in a hail of bullets. And then we'll die! And then we'll really be free,” She says.  
“That's poetry,” I say. “But we'll do that when all else fails.”

We’re lifted to our feet. I fight them, but without the use of my hands it’s pointless. Suddenly the peacekeeper drops me. Johanna has sent an axe into his back. As my guard notices what happened, Enobaria comes out of the shadows and attacks Katniss’s guards. 

“Go!” Johanna yells at us. I grasp her hand in mine and we make for the exit. Another prisoner passes me a shotgun. They pass an additional one to Katniss. We step over Snow’s body as we leave. The other inmates are still fighting, but Katniss and I have smiles on our faces. In our minds we’ve won. 

Gale follows us out of the mansion. He’s still rolling and wants to do one last interview. It’s just him now with his camera. This pisses me off. What? Does he think that just because he used to be one of us that he’s not guilty? Does he think that he’s any better? Feeding death and violence and murder to the people of Panem? Does he think that makes him any better then the rest of them because he’s from 12?  
It’s worse. He’s just as bad as Snow. He loves the violence. He loves the blood and death and gore. 

When he continues to follow us as we walk into a clearing, I turn on him. My gun is pointed at his chest. He looks genuinely surprised. 

“I thought a bond developed between us!” He says. His hands are up in the air like he means me no harm. Like he could hurt me now. Hah.  
“No. Not really. You're scum, Gale, you did it for the RATINGS. You don't give a shit about us or anybody else except yourself, and that's why nobody gives a shit about YOU.” I say.  
“Kat? Catnip? Think of everything we’ve been through.” Katniss picks up her gun and aims it at Gale’s chest. The tell tale click of the safety being released is like music to my ears. It tells me she loves me. That she supports me. She approves of my decision.  
“Wait! Don't Peeta and Katniss always leave one person alive to tell the tale?”  
“We are...” I say.  
“Your camera!” Katniss and I finish together. 

We both shoot Gale. We keep shooting long past when we need to. It’s over now. The people of Panem will finally see. 

It’s done. 

============================

Epilogue 

His lips are hot on my neck. He’s sucking at the flesh, and I know he’s leaving his mark. His hands squeeze tight. My nipples pebble and scream as they are pinched. My face is turned. The wallpaper is cool against my cheek. His chest is pressed against my back.  
It’s hot, my skin is on fire.  
I’m on fire.  
The girl on fire.  
He pushes in.  
I scream.  
His hands travel down to my hips and pull me tighter against him.  
I moan.  
He starts moving out.  
In.  
Out.  
It’s heaven.  
It’s hell.  
It’s perfect.  
One set of fingers comes crawling towards my cunt. He taps out a tune in time to his thrusts.  
I sing.  
He sings.  
It’s everything.  
He’s my everything.  
We’ve won. 

He stays behind me, lining my shoulders with kisses as I bask in the afterglow of our love making. He hands me my tee-shirt. Instead of taking it, I hold my hands up and let him put it on me.  
“Well, this has turned out to be a profucktive morning.”  
“Profucktive?”  
“Like productive?” He leans in for a kiss. “But with fucking.” I smile. He throws on his on t-shirt and a pair of pants while I jump into some shorts. He grabs the back of my head and kisses me long and hard before leaning over me to open the bedroom door. 

I look down and smile. Our daughter is building a house on the floor of the RV, with her brother watching closely over her shoulder. I don’t know where we are, but I know we’re not near any of the districts.  
I’m happy.  
I’m at peace.  
I sit down on the floor and join in the play with my children.  
She’s beautiful.  
They’re both beautiful.  
Peeta thinks she looks just like me, but she has his eyes.  
Her brother is her mirror image.  
His blond hair gets in his eyes as he makes car noises as it drives across the floor. 

I look up at Peeta and slant my body up to give him a brief kiss. He puts his hand on my stomach, and I feel the life growing inside of me. It won’t be too long before number three. We have found peace, and we have found paradise. We never have to think about the bastards we left behind ever again.


End file.
